From: Zelda series (First game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
Skulltulas have become a recurring enemy in the Zelda series ever since their first appearance on the N64. They appear as large spiders, ranging from about the size of a human head to about the size of a human (or in extreme cases, about the size of a human house.) Their abdomen is marked with a visage similar to a human skull, which is where they get their name.
They are usually seen hanging close to the ceiling by a single thread of spider silk, though when prey presents itself underneath they will rocket from the ceiling in ambush. Sometimes they remain hanging from the silk, but sometimes they attempt to jump on their prey.
Their weak point is pretty much always their soft underbelly, though to get to it usually takes some sort of strategy. Not always, though; in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask they would just spin around and reveal their weak point for no discernible reason. In Twilight Princess, wherein they are more hostile, they can be knocked over onto their back and dealt a jump + stab attack for a one hit kill.
Their most frightening appearance thus far is in Skyward Sword, where they will pursue the hero when he nears them; if he tries to run, they will spit spider silk at him to slow him down, and if they catch up to him they will climb on him and bite his face until he can struggle free. They can be kind of tricky to defeat for new players (and since they appear in the very first dungeon in the game…), as their thick exoskeleton prevents most attacks from working. Their weak point is, once again, on their underbelly, but knocking them over to see it can be difficult.
Notably, in Skyward Sword they can be found in large spider webs that cover pathways entirely. Link has to cut through their web to defeat them, and if he gets caught in them the Skulltula will slowly crawl towards him in ambush.
From: Kirby series (First game: Kirby’s Dream Land)
Waddle Doos are one of the most iconic enemies from the Kirby series; they’ve appeared in practically every Kirby game since the first installment. They’re basically little red spheres with one huge eye capable of firing a whip-like beam.
Waddle Doos relinquish the ability to fire beams upon inhalation by everyone’s favorite pink puffball, Kirby. The eyeballs are kind of the go-to enemy for the Beam Ability, even becoming the designated Beam “partner” in Kirby Super Star and its remake.
Waddle Doo’s earliest appearance was in the very first Kirby game, Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy, where they were able to fire a short spurt of electrified orbs directly in front of them as an attack. Kirby was actually able to use this as a weapon in Kirby’s Adventure on the NES, the first Kirby game to introduce the now-famous copy ability system. This is one of the few examples of a Kirby enemy actually inspiring a copy ability instead of vice versa; the only other enemies that really did this were Parasol Waddle Dee (which would go on to give the Parasol ability), Sir Kibble (Cutter), and Broom Hatter (Clean, though only in Kirby’s Dream Land 3.)
Waddle Doo, as a partner, gained a huge moveset increase in Super Star; it became able to grab foes and sling them with beam power, fire three blue beams at once, fire a volley of beam-powered orbs in a machine gun-fashion, and many, many more cool beam-related moves. Waddle Doo even retained its Beam properties in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, where copy abilites were once again absent.
Waddle Doo is a series staple, and one that this mod personally always enjoys seeing, both for its relatively unique power and for how gosh darn adorable it is!
From: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island and Paper Mario
“A long, long time ago…
This is a story about baby Mario and Yoshi.”
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island follows the titular Yoshi carrying an infant Mario to his kidnapped little brother, Luigi, who had been stolen by Bowser’s right hand man, the wizard Kamek. Throughout the game Kamek would attempt to steal baby Mario from Yoshi by confronting the dinosaur and transforming a normal-sized enemy into a giant version of itself. One such example is the Naval Piranha, boss of World 3:
The Naval Piranha was transformed from a normal-sized Piranha Plant; when Kamek’s magic affected the plant it plopped into a large expanse of water and turned deliciously serpentine. It grew a long “neck” and two other vines alongside it, atop which are two Piranha Buds, capable of spouting Nipper Plant spores to provide Yoshi with ammunition.
The Naval Piranha had an appearance in “Tetris Attack” as well, where it was given a rather feminine voice. Its biggest reappearance (of sorts!), though, was in “Paper Mario.”
The entirety of Chapter 5 in Paper Mario is a big throwback to Super Mario World 2, and the chapter boss is no exception. The Lava Piranha rested in the heart of the huge Lavalava Volcano, protecting the fifth Star Spirit from Mario. Throughout his trek, Mario was spied upon by the Lava Piranha via several normal-sized Piranha Plants, and upon arrival to the lowest floor in the dungeon the two fought.
After being defeated once the Lava Piranha springs back to life coated in flames (as seen above) and becomes immune to most physical attacks. After being defeated once and for all, Mt. Lavalava erupted, cuing a timed escape sequence. The Lava Piranha doesn’t seem to be particularly bright, judging by its speech patterns, and a few characters in the game hint at there being more than one Lava Piranha. Perhaps every volcano has one at its base, keeping the structure together, and when it dies the volcano erupts?
Other fun facts about these creatures:
The Naval Piranha is known as “Audrey” in Germany, a reference to “Little Shop of Horrors”
The Lava Piranha has a notably cool theme song called Go! Mario! Go! (the name of which is very similar to the name of one of the levels in “Yoshi’s Island”!)
Possible spoilers ahead!
From: MOTHER 3/EarthBound 2
On the Nowhere Islands, animals thrived and people lived normal, happy lives until one day a mysterious group of soldiers dressed as pigs appeared and began to mess with the local wildlife.
One of the first in-game examples seen by both the player and the main characters is a reindeer, captured by the nefarious army and reconstructed into an angry killer cyborg.
Other examples of these “chimeras” exist throughout the world of MOTHER 3 as well.
The Batangutan is an interesting creature, simply for how seemingly random it is. Just look at this thing! It’s so awkward-looking, crawling about on its arms.
The Monkalrus is equally strange. It is notably susceptible to sleep, which isn’t that odd if you think about the animals it’s made of. On a personal note, this mod always thought that this creature’s original head became the aforementioned Batangutan monster. Nothing talks about this in-game, but it would explain at least ONE question.
The Cattlesnake is an interesting foe, and one that I personally didn’t understand until recently. First of all, I didn’t get the pun in its name until after I beat the game. And it’s quite a lame pun, but lame in the good way. Anyway, though, I didn’t understand the idea behind this enemy until semi-recently; in hindsight it’s obviously a reference to catoblepas, an ancient beast described as having “…(a) head … so large that it carries it with great difficulty, in such wise that it always droops towards the ground…” The MOTHER 3 enemy is notable for being a sort of fake boss fight; you can fight a heard of them at an early level with great difficulty, but it’s much smarter to wait until a later point in the game.
The Dogfish and Top Dogfish are some really odd chimeras, even for this game. They appear to be made up of fish, birds, and domesticated dogs. The last thing on that list is what makes these enemies quite macabre; these could have been created from someone’s kidnapped pets! Actually, they *do* look a bit like Mick and King from the previous games…
EDIT: It’s a pun on catfish, HA i just got that
And finally, no chimera list would be complete without the Whatever, a confused and confusing gerbil cyborg whose only in-game actions are to fall in love with you be confused. Quite an adorable foe.
Kind of off-topic, but the writer of this post highly recommends this game for anyone who hasn’t played it. It’s truly an amazing game, and its fun battle system, fantastic music, quirky humor, and touching story will keep anyone enthralled throughout.
From: Final Fantasy XII
Flans and puddings have been the go-to “slime” enemy for the Final Fantasy series. They usually posses high defense against physical attacks and a plethora of varying colors depending on their attributed element or “flavor.” Across the series, many delicious-sounding relatives of the Flan appear: Ochre Jelly, Red Mousse, Sticky Goo, and Jumbo Flan to name a few.
Final Fantasy XII has an interesting take on Flan-related enemies (classified as the Amorph family in the game’s bestiary,) giving them the ability to reproduce asexually and adding in many interesting flan-related enemies. One of the most interesting, in this mod’s opinion, is the candle-inspired “Oiling” enemies.
It’s a very simple idea that was executed quite well; while most other Flan-based enemies in the series have been food-based, FFXII decided to take a different spin on the blobs of goo and make them have variants made of wax instead of jelly! There is a White Mousse enemy in the game, actually, and it looks quite delicious:
Other amorph-type enemies in FFXII are actually throwbacks to earlier games in the series: Hecteyes is a different goo-based monster that has had recurring appearances in the series, and Orthros is based on the fan-favorite octopus character from Final Fantasy VI, Ultros.
This blog is dedicated to the many weird, cool, and interesting creatures and monsters that appear in video games on any console. Video games tend to be a magnet for all sorts of cool and wacky monsters, and this mod has always been interested and drawn to them! I’m sure a lot of Tumblr users have felt similarly excited when a video game they’d been playing contains a list of monsters with little blurbs of lore about them, and this blog hopes to invoke a similar feeling!
